SNP Govt get wake up call as unpopular ‘Sturgeon Tax’ on alcohol ruled to breach EU Trade Laws, SNP flagship torpedoed entering EU waters!

Dear All

It was supposed to be a flagship SNP policy but minimum pricing for alcohol which Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon drove through Holyrood has hit a problem.

The EU has put a ‘Brussels’ torpedo into the policy and sunk it as European Officials ruled that it breached trade laws!

It seems that a policy ‘made in Scotland by Scots’ isn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

And the funny side is that it is people in Europe coming to the aid of poor working class Scots who like a drink and don't cause trouble.

In Ms. Sturgeon’s household as revealed yesterday, her family doesn’t have a problem with money since they on £200,000 a year.

The Sturgeon Tax on the poor was estimated to pull in £100 million a year. And not a since penny of that £100 million was going into public services.

The classic case of the rich helping the already rich people get wealthier under the guise of health!

Under Article 34 of the EU treaty which relates to imports and prohibits ‘quantitative restrictions and all measures having equivalent effects between member states', so, plain English, it isn't a runner.

Do you remember I said this was an unfair tax?

George Laird right again.

I even provide a better sensible solution which was to raise the age limit which alcohol can be bought in off sales and supermarkets.

Recently a poster took me to task on my understanding of law and human rights, doesn’t bother me because if anyone is a regular reader of this blog, my judgment is usually 100% correct and ahead of the SNP Ministers anyway, and everyone who puts their views forward should be able to handle criticism.

Do you remember my Cadder posts?

George Laird right again, SNP wrong.

Do you remember the UK Supreme Court row with the SNP Government?

George Laird right again, SNP wrong.

The SNP Government rather than accepting the decision is going to fight, their grounds are to cut short what would have to be a lengthy post are pure bollocks.

Our European cousins have come to their decision after basing it on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice.

The Scottish Government’s problem is that it is filled with not very bright people, and while they can make decisions in their own backyard and generally get away with it no matter how stupid and ill advised, it is a different story when they face people with power such as Westminster and Europe.

Ms. Sturgeon’s flagship may have looked like the Graf Spee sailing in Scottish waters, but when her flagship headed out into the North Sea it was a different matter.

Ka Boom!

This is another blow to Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister who invested such a lot of political capital in this policy.

The idea of disproportionally punishing the poor for the sins of the few was never a credible policy and with the EU now on the case from their end, this is one flagship that should be allowed to sink.

Only stupid people would fight this ruling, only people divorced from reality would argue this in a European Court.

To argue that Article 36 is correct as their defence, the SNP Government would have to be saying that the people of Scotland are a ‘nation of drunks’.

My advice to 'the stupid' in the Scottish Government, firstly recognise that you aren’t very bright, an important first step, second withdraw the bill and fix it, raise the age limit with a sunset clause. I would start at 25 years of age.

Thirdly, send a thank note to Europe yet again the SNP Government has needed someone externally to come in and wipe their political arse for them, till it is clean and sparkling.

Both cheeks!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University